All my files have lock icons

Mitch656 · 02 Oct 2015

Hi,
So i just came back from Windows 10, as the search wasnt working for me.

Windows restore to the way i had it before, but now all my files have a lock icon on them and i dont know how to get rid off it.

Pyprohly · 02 Oct 2015

Hello Mitch,

The gold locks just mean that you are the only user (excluding the builtin Administrator (and SYSTEM) accounts) on your machine who have any access rights to those items.

You can ignore them locks, they won’t effect you.

Mitch656 · 02 Oct 2015

Is there a way to remove them?

Pyprohly · 02 Oct 2015

Yep, you simply grant another user or group access to those files.

In order to determine whether it's the folder that contains the files that need the permissions changes or if it's the files themselves, would you be able to run two commands similar to the below and paste the commands' outputs here,

Code:

icacls "C:\path\to\files\with\locks"

Code:

icacls "C:\path\to\files\with\locks\fileWithLock.avi"

ThrashZone · 02 Oct 2015

Hi,
You seem to have music and videos in the same location
Is this location My Documents by chance and not My Music and My Videos ?

My Documents is the only location not shared by default all others are shared on a home group
Which might explain the lock symbols being there.
Control panel/ Home group/ ~~share settings~~/ check the box for Documents.

Brink · 02 Oct 2015

Hello Mitch, :)

In addition, the locks indicate that you have the file(s) set to be shared with nobody.

If you like, you can also use step 2 in the tutorial below to remove the lock icons without affecting their share status.

Lock Icon on Files and Folders - Remove in Windows 7